Affliction and Anguish
by Lucy Labrador
Summary: Sonic and Co have passed away leaving Shadow all alone to fend for himself. Time has crippled him emotionally which makes him unable to fight when a sadistic being arrives to make his life much worse. Warning: Blood and Gore
1. The Green Eyes of a Menace

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 1: The Green Eyes of a Menace**

**I'm back to the angst genre only this time it's going to be a lot darker. I would rate this a high T possibly an M, I have it as T right now but if you think this is M rated material please say and I'll change it. So, if you don't like blood, gore and horror turn back now! **

Shadow could feel nothing but a strong pain in his chest. This turned to a lump in his throat and heavy tears falling from his eyes. He tried to keep his emotional pain silent, even though there was no one around to hear it. He couldn't help it because as the tears fell, his breaths became ragged which caused the audible sobs. Shadow fell to his knees feeling the emotional pain physically cripple him, he'd lost all strength and hope. Shadow began to wipe away one set of tears but it was no use, as more took their place.

"L-look at how pathetic I am right now." Shadow cursed to himself, slamming his fist on the metal floor. "I promised them… I promised him I wouldn't cry… that I wouldn't let this upset me… and just move on." he said in a shaky voice. "I'm a complete failure…" he added softly.

Shadow looked up to the large window in front of him, the bright blue light of earth shining over him like it had done for many others once, over one hundred years ago. "This place fills me with dread, loneliness and horrible memories… but it's the only place I can go now… I can't stay down there, not with _them_." Shadow said, his voice filled with hatred on the last word. Them. Those… _humans_.

Shadow despised that species. He hated how they inhabited the beautiful planet below and ruined it, the rainforest was nearly depleted and the waters polluted, which was a huge achievement since the Earth consisted of mostly water. "I'm safe up here… they can't hurt me with their weapons or their careless destruction if I'm here." Shadow said to himself. "Unlike… my friends…" he said and broke to tears again.

Tails, Cream and Amy. The three youngest of the group. They had been killed by a falling building while they were so young. The three of them had decided to go on a shopping trip one early morning when the two towers they were in, were hit. Shadow remembered walking down the street, sulking, to hear a crash. A plane had hit one of the towers they were in at that time. Shadow brushed it off, enjoying the human's suffering. "They only destroy each other." he remembered saying to himself, and left the city to scream and save itself with out help.

He immediately regret his harsh actions when he heard that the three youths were in there. He never told Sonic of his un-heroic act of leaving them, he would have never forgiven him.

Nearly a decade passed, things started to become even more tense between the human countries. Shadow thought it foolish of the whole human race to fight each other when they should have been united. It took every ounce of his strength to resist destroying them all. He had been hired by GUN to help them destroy the so called freedom fighters and their leaders. The ones thought to be responsible for the crash that killed his friends.

Sadly, Rouge was taken in the process. But in the way one would think, Shadow disobeyed an order from The Commander. So The Commander himself, cold bloodedly murdered Shadow's best friend right before his eyes. Rouge, lay on the floor full of bullet wounds, unable to even give her last word or breath. Shadow could remember how he just stood there with his eyes wide and his mouth gaped open. He didn't know what to do at first but then he took his action of revenge and sent a chaos spear right through The Commander's heart.

GUN hadn't seen Shadow since. No body knew how The Commander died and why Rouge was dead. This just left Sonic. Sonic had lost his best friend to a human and Shadow had lost his the same. From then on they stuck together and survived. Sonic grew old and frail as Shadow stayed to protect him. It was Sonic's last moments as he lay on his death bed, his old body crippled from aging. "Shadow… remember this and promise me… don't let my death bother you or make you do anything silly… just live your life, regardless of what those humans are doing. I beg of you…" he rasped and finished his last breath.

It was then Shadow used Chaos Control to take him to Space Colony ARK to grieve for his losses. It had been many decades, of suffering and anguish but at least now it was over and he could live a new life alone in the ARK. Shadow didn't rely on food and water to live any more, just chaos energy and he always kept his green emerald with him at all times to keep his chaos energy levels up. That would be his food.

Shadow continued to cry, like letting out the pain through the tears his eyes made. He wailed out, no one was there to hear him scream so he didn't care. He could act like a baby, he could be un-dignifying and show his emotion now, he didn't have to be the stoic Ultimate Life Form any more.

He felt like his chest was contracting on itself and his throat, it is completely true when people say true emotional pain gives a person physical pain too. Physical pain that can only be ended by crying. All of these years Shadow had taken the pain and dealt with the agony, hiding his suffering behind the face of no emotion. No matter how bad it got he kept the tears inside, until now. He let them out and relieved himself of the fifty years of pain he had been feeling since not so long after his release from prison island.

He lay on the floor, feeling useless and feeble, which only made him cry more which caused him to feel even more pathetic. But he would fulfil the promises he had made to Sonic over their years of friendship. He would not self harm, never. No matter how bad things got. Cutting would not release the pain and even if it did he vowed not to do so. Suicide attempts were useless as he could survive pretty much everything and come out the other end in even worse pain than before.

"At least I'm alone… nothing can hurt me… I'm safe." Shadow tried to reassure himself. It was like he had two personalities, or two minds inside of his brain. One would be the reassuring side that would know exactly what was wrong, why the other mind would do such reckless things and try to put things right for it. But the insecure mind would never accept it or cheer up, it would never listen.

Shadow began to quieten down. Quiet enough to hear a soft and slow tapping sound. He tensed up and looked around to see where the sound came from. They sounded like footsteps, as if somebody was creeping up on him. Shadow's heart rate increased and shivers went down his spine. In the darkness of the doorway of the room he could see a slight glow or snake green eyes. Not a kind emerald green like Sonic's but a harsh sickening green. Shadow gave a quick gasp has stopped his breathing out of fear.

Shadow could no longer fight, he hadn't been training or using any of his power or skills for years. He would be at the mercy of whatever had come to prey on him.

There was the sound of a masculine sadistic chuckle which echoed along the corridors it was in. Then a chaos attack was sent, similar to a chaos spear, travelling to Shadow at the speed of light, impaling him in the shoulder and pushing him up against the wall, sticking him to it.

Shadow had been nailed to the wall with this attack and it showed no signs of fizzling out unlike Shadow's chaos spears which would lose physical form once used. Shadow was breathing heavily, his eyes wide in dread and terror. He gave a grunt of pain but couldn't remove himself from the wall, he was trapped. He was not high up, he was low enough to be sitting against the wall with his legs spread out on the floor.

Then his attacker came into the room, stepping into the dim blue light that Shadow had been sitting in. Shadow saw what looked like to him as his dimmed reflection, his dully coloured twin. Shadow took a few deep breaths and said. "Who are you and what do you want with me?" and he gulped hard.

"I am Mephiles the Dark… and I'm here to make your life a living hell." He said with an eerie voice. He then make another of the spears and impaled it through Shadow's other shoulder but this time slowly.

There was the sound of cracking and squelching as the bones cracked under the pressure of the sharp tip and blood seeping out through the wound. Shadow gasped in pain, his breaths becoming more and more desperate but still shallow until he let out an agonised cry of anguish. Shadow slowly came to open one of his eyes which were scrunched closed from the pain. That's when Mephiles harshly and quickly stuck a lance to his stomach causing Shadow to scream and yell out in pure agony but no one could hear his screams. He would have to experience this living hell.

**Lucy Labrador**


	2. The Deal

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 2: The Deal**

Shadow's screams of pain reached the other side of the ARK and back. He then hung limp like clothes on a washing line. Mephiles watched as Shadow coughed out green blood as a result of his abdomen being pierced from the front to the back. "The blood of The Black Arms. You definitely are who I'm looking for." Mephiles said in a dark delight.

"Why me?" Shadow coughed out.

"You are The Ultimate Life Form." Mephiles said slowly while getting close to him. "It's because of you that I lost my counterpart. I wasn't even meant to exist but I was able to escape the destruction of my existence by hiding in the time space rift. You will never defeat me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shadow squeaked. Mephiles slapped Shadow in the face, tilting it to the side as many slaps do. Shadow then looked at him with wide eyes and zoned out.

"You will now…" Mephiles said sinisterly. After about 30 seconds of being unresponsive Shadow came back to reality. He then shut his eyes tight and began to tremble with fear.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." Shadow said in a desperate and croaky voice. "I… beg of you not to hurt me anymore… I didn't mean to upset you." he pleaded.

"No. I'm taking my revenge." Mephiles said, he grabbed Shadow's chin and held him still. Shadow tried to squirm but moving was too painful.

"But I didn't do anything! What you showed me is from an alternate timeline didn't happen here. I didn't do anything." Shadow yelled angrily, fear was in his voice.

"But you did… and I'm going to make you suffer ten times worse than I did." Mephiles threatened and twisted Shadow's neck slightly as he forcefully let go of his chin. It wasn't enough to break Shadow's neck but the force did hurt him.

"Mephiles please- UGH!" Shadow choked out before he could finish begging as Mephiles kicked Shadow between the legs. "You're insane…" Shadow choked, coughing out a few spots of blood in the process.

"Yes. Because of what you have done to me." Mephiles said sadistically and pulled out the spear that was in Shadow's stomach. Shadow let out a shrilling cry as the energy slid against his insides again. The sword of energy then fizzled out getting absorbed back into Mephiles' body. "I think I should apply pressure to the wound to stop it from bleeding." he said viciously and pressed his hand into the wound harshly and strongly.

This made Shadow squirm and choke out, coughing out blood and crying with a heavy stream of tears. Mephiles took his hand off the wound and struck a punch to it. He then removed the two spears from Shadow's shoulders making him fall forward onto the floor.

Shadow felt his eyes sight go blurry and it felt as though the room was spinning, the pain he was going through began to numb. Mephiles grabbed Shadow's neck, holding his upper body up so that he was looking up at him. The tormented hedgehog's eyes were half nearly closed and his mouth slightly open for breath. That's when he blacked out from blood loss and fell completely limp in Mephiles' arms.

"Sonic…" Shadow found himself groaning the name of his lost friend while opening his eyes to see nothing but white.

"Shadow, buddy." Shadow could hear the cheerful and youthful voice of his friend. He turned to the direction the voice was coming from and saw Sonic standing on his level in the vast white space.

"Sonic… where are we… am I dead?" Shadow said groggily.

"No Shadow, you're still alive. You never will be dead." Sonic said solemnly, he walked over and helped Shadow up.

"What's going on then. Is this my conscience?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah." Sonic said with a grin.

"You're in my mind?" Shadow said sounding annoyed.

"Yeah… would you rather be alone?" Sonic scoffed, folding his arms.

"No… I like you being here. I'm sorry Sonic, please don't go." Shadow pleaded. "Sonic, how am I going to get out of this? I don't think I can take any more of that torture." Shadow shivered.

"I think you should bargain with him. If you can't fight back with your strength, use your intelligence." Sonic suggested.

"You're right… like, if I was to do something for him then he would do something for me, preferably to leave me alone." Shadow said. He then groaned again. "I am going to be in so much pain when I wake up." Shadow complained.

"I know, which is why you need to make some sort of agreement with him. He can't do this to you." Sonic said seriously.

"Sonic, how are you here? Is there an afterlife that you're reaching me from or is this just a figure of my imagination." Shadow asked sadly, at the thought that talking to Sonic may not be real.

"Does this feel real?" Sonic asked and put his hand on Shadow's shoulder. Shadow nodded silently. "Then I'm really here. I can't tell you how I'm here but I am. It's a shame I can't help you out physically. With my young and strong body I could kick his ass easily." Sonic said cockily.

"Hmph… so you think." Shadow jeered, thinking of the alternate timeline he was shown which included Sonic's defeat and revival.

"Yeah, that guy looks strong." Sonic said, not realising the point in what Shadow has said. "Hey, Shadow, you're fading!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I'm waking up." Shadow said worriedly and looked at Sonic with anxiety. "I don't want to be conscious again, it's going to be so painful." he panicked and tried to grab a hold of Sonic but it was too late.

Shadow's eyes slowly opened. He was laying down the spot he was in before Mephiles had arrived. Shadow coughed, spluttered and groaned. The tears started to fall because of the sharp pain going through his shoulders and stomach. He didn't bother to move because he knew he could tear a muscle or damage a weak internal body part that was healing.

Shadow tried to stay quiet so that he would not catch Mephiles' attention. He had a feeling that as soon as Mephiles knew that the poor hedgehog was awake he would prey on him again. It was hard to stay silent when he had to take deep and quick breaths to be table to take the pain or had to cough or give a groan of pain. Despite Shadow's hard efforts to stay quiet Mephiles came inside the room to check on him anyway.

Shadow's heart rate increased, it felt like it had done so by tenfold. Shadow began to panic and stutter. "D-don't hurt me. Don't do it, please! Please!" Shadow cried out as Mephiles slowly walked closer and closer very slowly. "I beg of you don't hurt me again, I'm in enough pain as it is." Shadow said quickly and urgently. He knew it would be futile to try and get away and they he would be wasting his energy so he stayed where he was.

All Shadow could do was helplessly lay down in pain and wait for the further agony to be dealt. Mephiles had now gotten all of the way over to Shadow and was standing right by him, looking down and the pathetic hedgehog. "What shall I do with you now?" Mephiles said in a teasing voice, it was teasing because Shadow knew he would not get to chose despite Mephiles' question.

Shadow stayed silent and began to tremble in fear, he was petrified. "Look at you… you're a horrible state." Mephiles insulted harshly. Shadow was in a horrible state. His torso was covered in dry blood, his shoulders and chest in dry blood too. But it wasn't a deep red which would be colour coordinated with the red on his fur. It was all a luminous green.

"Mephiles… I think you've had your fun now. Please just leave it at this." Shadow said through his heavy breaths.

"No. I'm not finished. I've only just begun. Like I said, this is your living Hell, that means it last a long time. I didn't say Purgatory, did I?" Mephiles teased.

"You can't possibly torture me forever. You'll get bored eventually." Shadow said in disbelief.

"Yes but it will be a long time and the amount of pain you'll be going through will make it seem like eternity." Mephiles said viciously.

"N-n-n-n-no…" Shadow trembled like a coward. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you, to make you stop?" he begged.

"No, there is nothing you can do but take the pain." Mephiles said ominously.

"But… you can't! Are you sure. I could be your slave. I'll do anything!" Shadow begged even harder.

"Sounds very enticing rodent." Mephiles pondered on the thought of having Shadow as his slave. He then chuckled. "How the mighty have fallen…" Mephiles said. "You have yourself a deal."

Shadow sighed with relief. "So, you're not going to hurt me anymore?" Shadow said hopefully.

"Not any more." Mephiles said. There was then a sinister look on his face. "As of…" he kicked Shadow in the side which Shadow cry out and cringe. "Now!" Mephiles said and walked out of the room. "You are now hired as my assistant." he called from the corridor.

Shadow then coughed out another mouthful of blood, he turned to the side to spit it out onto the floor and not onto himself. "He enjoys the suffering of others too much…" Shadow groaned. He rested his arms on his stomach and as he started to feel nauseated and light in the head. He felt his body become weak and his head became light. His eyes began to close and he fell unconscious again.

**The horrible torture will die down from here now that Shadow has made a deal with Mephiles. Lucy Labrador**


	3. Making Progress

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 3: Making Progress**

Later Shadow was pulling himself off of the ground after coming back into conscience. His wounds hadn't healed fully yet but they were making a start, an early start because he was The Ultimate Life Form.

He was making his way out of the room when he came across Mephiles again. Shadow walked back into the middle of the room, cowering back from the demon. "Why are you afraid hedgehog? I'm not going to hurt you anymore. You're my assistant now, not my torture victim." Mephiles said calmly.

Shadow silently stood in the middle of the room trembling and putting his hands up in front of him as a form of futile protection. Mephiles walked over to him put his hand on Shadow's shoulder softly. "I won't hurt you." he said firmly. Shadow put his hands down but he was still unsure, he still had an uneasy look on his face.

It looked like Shadow was trying to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. "What is it hedgehog, don't be afraid to speak." Mephiles said harshly. Shadow gulped and said,

"If I'm you're assistant, what do I assist you in doing?" Shadow asked nervously.

"Just a few odd tasks. But first before you will be able help me with anything significant I need to retrain you. You're merely a silhouette of what you used to be." Mephiles said and led Shadow out of the room.

Shadow followed Mephiles down the corridor and into the nearest bathroom. "Get in there and clean your wounds." Mephiles ordered while pointing to the bath. Shadow did so, got off his shoes and gloves, got inside and turned on the shower, hoping the water that came through wouldn't be dirty or had run out.

It was just fine, but cold. Shadow shivered and tried to dodge the water but he had to clean his agonising wounds up. Hot water would have cleansed them properly and perhaps soothed them but cold was all he had and it just made it hurt even more. Mephiles waited at the doorway then saw Shadow come out, his fur dripping wet and grimacing in pain. "Look at you. You're like a wet puppy. Dry yourself off." Mephiles said and threw an old towel at him, showing no concern for Shadow's pain.

"What are you going to do now?" Shadow asked nervously.

"I'm going to let you rest. You must heal quickly so we can get started on your training." Mephiles said. He found the nearest bedroom and shoved Shadow inside of it.

"Mephiles, I can't sleep in here. This isn't my room!" Shadow complained.

"Well, where is your room then!" Mephiles snapped. Shadow's ears flattened onto is head and he led Mephiles to his old bedroom. "I see… well, sleep tight hedgehog. I might start your training tomorrow, depending on how much your wounds have cleared up after your rest."

"What will you do while I'm sleeping?" Shadow asked, worry still in his voice.

"Wait." Mephiles said and left Shadow on his own. He got into his bed, still feeling a slight pain. The whole room would have been covered in dust if there were inhabitants in the ARK during the 100 years it had been closed for but it was clear which is why Shadow would just get straight into bed without being worried about dust and bacteria getting into his wounds.

Shadow had been passed out for many hours now but he could still get back to sleep despite his abundance in rest that day. It felt good to be back in the bedroom of his childhood. His eyes had adapted to the darkness so he could pick out the outlines of the objects. His wardrobe, bedside table and bookshelf. He remembered them all well. He couldn't believe it had been a century since this room had been touched. He could almost see Maria running into the room to say goodnight.

When Shadow came back to his senses and opened his eyes, he could see a set of green eyes glowing in the doorway. Shadow gasped and pulled his covers up to his face. "How many times do I have to tell you not to worry." Mephiles said. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Shadow nodded and got out of bed, walked over to Mephiles reluctantly and was led back to the room that had light from the bright Earth. Mephiles then took a look at Shadow's wounds. His shoulder wounds were mere scabs but his stomach still had a way to go. Shadow looked at Mephiles worriedly, thinking he would be punished because he hadn't healed yet. "We'll have to wait another day or two for that to heal up." Mephiles said calmly.

Shadow stood silently without reaction, his expression still anxious. Mephiles sighed. "When will you realise that I'm not going to hurt you. We had a deal hedgehog. Keep your side of it and I'll keep mine." he said irritably.

Shadow nodded slightly and stepped back. "You really are nothing compared to what you used to be. I should be the one quivering in the fear, not you. You've let yourself go hedgehog. I'm disappointed." Mephiles said. Shadow felt ashamed of himself. "Now, go back to bed and rest. I want to get started as soon as possible." he said and pointed to the door.

Shadow turned to leave but Mephiles grabbed Shadow's arm before he could. "And give me that emerald… I don't want you trying chaos control to escape." Mephiles said sternly. Shadow gulped, took the emerald out and gave it to him.

"I wasn't thinking of doing that I swear… I would have done so by now. I forgot I even had it." Shadow said worriedly.

"Just go." Mephiles growled. Shadow rushed back to his room before Mephiles lost his temper. "He needs some help really soon." he sighed to himself.

After a few hours of laying in bed Shadow started to feel light headed as though he was low on energy. He felt the fatigue take over his whole body and realised his withdrawal to chaos energy was taking it's toll on him. He got out of bed and wobbly walked over to the room Mephiles was in.

"Mephiles. I could really do with some chaos energy right now." Shadow groaned, leaning against the door frame.

"No, you'll use it to escape." Mephiles said harshly.

"I won't, I'll use it to survive. I rely on chaos energy to keep me alive." Shadow said urgently. "Please Mephiles, I need it." he trembled.

"Fine." Mephiles gave in and walked over to him. He grabbed Shadow's wrist, held it up and put the emerald in Shadow's hand. "There… but I'm keeping a hold of you in case you're trying to trick me."

"Thank You Mephiles." Shadow sighed thankfully.

"You're becoming too dependant on that energy. I should try to wean you off of it. I can't have you falling into a coma from energy loss while you're on a mission." Mephiles said and took the emerald from Shadow's hand.

"But… it's not an addiction that you need to stop. I need it to survive!" Shadow exclaimed.

"So you think. You don't need that much energy to keep you alive. It's your body and mind playing tricks on you." Mephiles said shrewdly. Shadow's eyes flattened to the back of his head. "Stop being so anxious hedgehog, I'm trying to help you." the demon complained. "Now back to bed." he ordered, pointing to the corridor that led to Shadow's bedroom.

Shadow turned on his heal, sighing and trudged back to his bedroom miserably, looking to the floor, sulking. "It's going to take a lot of effort to get Shadow back to what he used to be." Mephiles sighed to himself as he watched Shadow go back to his room.

"Hedgehog, wake up." Shadow heard Mephiles' voice many hours later, accompanied by the clicking of fingers. Shadow opened his eyes to see green ones hovering over him.

"Huh?" Shadow said groggily. "What's wrong?"

"You've been sleeping for a long time. You should get up, staying in bed all day is bad for you." Mephiles warned and pulled him up out of bed gently.

"Staying _out_ of bed this long is bad. Haven't you slept at all?" Shadow asked.

"I don't need sleep. I'm not a creature like you Shadow." Mephiles explained and led him back to the room with light.

Shadow took a while to get used to the light while Mephiles examined his wound. "It's healed on the outside. What about the inside?" he asked. Shadow shrugged with sleepy eyes. "Well does it hurt?" he asked irritably.

"N-no. I think that chaos energy helped me to recover. It is good for me." Shadow complained.

"To some extent. Now stop complaining, I'm not depriving you of what you need just weaning you off of it. You'll turn out stronger and better off in the long term." Mephiles scolded. "Now, wake up fully and I'll start by testing your current ability."

Shadow gave his head a quick shake and his muscles and stretch. "Stand at the other side of the room. I'll send some mild versions of my attacks. They'll be as strong as something like a paintball, it'll only be painful enough to just notice it but not weak enough so that you won't want to avoid it." He said, a slight determination in his voice.

Shadow walked to the other side of the room slowly and nervously. "Are you ready Shadow?" Mephiles asked. There was no answer from Shadow, just an unemotional look. "I'm starting anyway." he declared and sent and attack in Shadow's direction.

Shadow ran to the side to avoid it, then the opposite way when Mephiles sent another chaos spear like attack. Then the attack Mephiles sent was too fast to run from but high enough to duck it. Shadow was caught out and his in the face. He grabbed his cheek in pain. "Score, two. Pretty poor." Mephiles said. "There is a major improvement to be made." he criticised.

"It's like you've slapped me again but worse." Shadow said, not taking his hand off of his cheek.

"Stop complaining and try again." Mephiles said and got another attack ready in his hand. Shadow dodged it by running and the second. When the third came he knew to use his speed and quick reactions to duck. He then jumped over the next attack which was a low one. He ran to the side when the next attack came, only to get hit on the hip. He bent over in pain, putting his hands on his side because of the pain.

"What! But I dodged!" Shadow complained.

"I sent two attacks either side of you. You ran too far to the left and ran into my second attack." Mephiles said smugly. "So, Score, four… you're improving… slightly." he teased. Shadow gave a frustrated look. "Let's keep going." Mephiles said and sent his attacks again in the same order.

After a few more tries Shadow got the hang of it until Mephiles attacks go too fast and often for him. "I think that's it for now." Mephiles said. Shadow was stood on the spot panting hard. "You should rest again before we try the next exercise."

"What's that going to be?" Shadow asked as he left the room.

"You have to hit me." Mephiles said confidently. Shadow's eyes flattened onto the back of his head as he left the room. "And that's just the distance combat. We haven't even gotten to the close combat." Mephiles said to himself sinisterly when Shadow had left.

**Updates may slow down because of exams. I have one tomorrow and on Friday, then they're over and I can concentrate of stories again!**

**Lucy Labrador**


	4. My Fault

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 4: My Fault**

Mephiles had gotten Shadow to stand at the far end of the room again after he had rested. "Now, you have to try and hit me with your attacks." Mephiles announced. "Catch." he said and threw the chaos emerald to Shadow.

The startled hedgehog put his hands out and just caught it after tapping it into the air as he nearly let it fall out of his hands. Shadow pocketed it, letting the energy enter his body so he could use it to attack Mephiles. "You can start." Mephiles ordered.

Shadow sent the first chaos spear he had in years. It fizzled out before it could even get half way across the room. "I'm a little rusty." Shadow said nervously, surprised at his failure, that hadn't happened since he had first tried it soon after his creation.

He tried again, it reached Mephiles' side of the room this time but, of course, it missed him. The frustrating thing was, Mephiles hadn't even dodged, Shadow's aim was completely off. Shadow's mouth gaped open as it hit a spot on the wall that was several metres away from Mephiles. "Surely I haven't become this bad." Shadow said with an annoyed expression.

"Time's ticking on Shadow." Mephiles said, folding his arms, looking impatient.

Shadow gave it a third try, almost hitting the area that Mephiles was in. That's when Mephiles knew it was time to dodge, Shadow had nearly gotten the hang of his chaos spear ability again. "Come on then Shadow, I'm waiting." Mephiles teased, he then leapt out of the way of a spear that Shadow had sent with determination.

After many attacks, which Mephiles could dodge easily, Shadow soon got the idea to shoot where Mephiles was going to be. At that Mephiles didn't doge at all, he just stood still which caused Shadow to miss. "What! It's like you can read my mind!" Shadow complained. Mephiles looked at him triumphantly. "How do you do that?"

"I just look at your eyes… wherever they're directed, you're going to hit." Mephiles said smugly.

"How can see eyes and the surroundings at the same time?" Shadow asked with frustration.

"I don't need to see my surroundings, I just have to be aware of them." Mephiles said calmly. "You've forgotten so much about the art of battle Shadow, you should be ashamed."

Shadow gave a 'Hmph', crossed his arms and looked away miserably. He gave a yelp when he felt something hit his side, Mephiles had hit him with one of his mild attacks.

"Let's continue. You're making good progress, I don't want to slow down now." Mephiles said with determination.

"And what will happen when I'm ready to fight again, when you're finally the one cowering instead of me?" Shadow asked coldly.

"You will never become that strong. I'll only train you until you're just a little bit weaker than me." Mephiles explained. Shadow sent a spear in anger, Mephiles didn't see this one coming and it hit him in the torso.

Shadow's ears flattened against his head in fear. He'd just hit Mephiles, surely he would be angry. Shadow was expecting a punishment but instead he had praise. "Well done… you actually hit me." Mephiles said in shock. "Now try hitting me while I'm aware of your attack." Mephiles hissed.

Shadow then tried his best to hit Mephiles but he was too good at dodging attacks. Shadow sped up, slowed down and did unexpected things but Mephiles was still able to avoid the chaos attacks. "Damn it… this is impossible." Shadow complained, giving up.

"How is it impossible if you were able to defeat me before?" Mephiles said, coming to a stand still.

"That was an alternate timeline, in the past when I really was the Ultimate Life Form. I'm nothing now… unable to fight, unable to stand up to myself."

"Hence my training. I'm helping you become what you were before."

"I don't think I'll ever be like that again." Shadow said sadly. "I suppose I'll be able to go as far as making you able to stand up to yourself against the humans, but with confidence like that, you'll never be able to defend yourself against a super power like me." Mephiles said, pointing at the shameful hedgehog.

Shadow continued to sulk, his arms hanging at his sides, he was looking at the floor with a frown on his face. "You can only blame yourself for not trying." Mephiles said and left the room.

This left Shadow to think on his own. "My fault…" he mumbled to himself and walked over to the window. In his faint reflection that he saw in the window, he could also see Maria. It was just a figure of his imagination, but it looked to real to him. It filled him with guilt to see her. "It's my fault that you're dead, Maria." he said and turned around.

More memories burned through his skull. "It's my fault that Rouge died… and it's because of my stupidity that Sonic's young friends didn't have a chance of survival the morning of their death." Shadow said to himself, trying to hold back the tears. "I suppose Sonic's death could also be my fault… in some way." he sighed. "He died of natural causes but he was still quite young to go… maybe if I had saved his friends, he would have been happier, healthier and would have lived longer… I wouldn't even be in this situation now."

Shadow was thinking into their deaths too hard. He turned back to the window sadly and put his hands against it, looking over the Earth below. "I was meant to protect and save that planet… and I've failed. All because of Maria's wish… never to hurt the humans, well the humans hurt the planet, as well as me. I should take action! But I can't, I made a promise." Shadow sighed to himself.

"Well, break the promise then." Shadow heard Mephiles say from the doorway.

Shadow turned around, a look of anger on his face. "Were you listening to me the whole time?" Shadow hissed, feeling angry but anxious at the same time.

"Most of the time, I believe. You talk to yourself a lot." Mephiles said, walking over to him.

"Hmph. So what?" Shadow said and turned away from him.

"That's not an insult, just an observation." Mephiles said smartly, walking over to him. He reached Shadow and put his hand on the poor hedgehog's shoulder. "You need to stop blaming yourself and gain some confidence, just as you did before. It's crucial that you do."

Shadow continued to sulk. "What's that matter? Is it something I've said?" Mephiles asked.

"Yes, you made me realised, everything that's happened to me is all my fault. My friends' deaths… they're all gone before of me. Because of my actions… or lack of actions!" Shadow said, sounding infuriated.

"That is somewhat true but you can't go on letting it weaken you. It's time to move on and become strong again." Mephiles said, his efforts were fruitless, Shadow wasn't having a change of attitude. "I think that you're looking at this incorrectly. Perhaps the death of your friends isn't your fault, after all, who killed the majority of them?"

"Humans." Shadow said in a monotone voice.

"Therefore, who's fault is it?" Mephiles asked in a sinister tone.

"The human race." Shadow answered, again in a monotone voice, as though he had lost hope.

"So who do we blame?" Mephiles asked.

"The human race." Shadow said again.

"Yes, that's right. You don't blame yourself… you blame those humans… the military, GUN in particular." Mephiles said. "That is why I'm training you. So that we can take down the organisation, then there will be no one to protect the rest of the human race so they will fall with them."

"What about Maria's wish? I'd be breaking the promise I made to her." Shadow said worriedly.

"You have to forget about that wish. The wish has become redundant, the human race is destroying your beloved planet so you should take action. I think that is what she would have wanted."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe we should purge the Earth of the human race… but is that right? They're the inhabitants so they have every right to destroy their own planet, don't they?" Shadow asked.

"They have no right to destroy the Earth! They're all fools!" Mephiles yelled. "And they need to be eradicated before it's too late!" he added.

"All right… I get your point. Now I see a reason to train, so that I have the strength and ability to destroy them all so that the planet is safe." Shadow said in realisation.

"Let's continue with the training then. I think that we should have a go at close combat now." Mephiles said. "Now show me what moves you can remember." he said an stood back giving Shadow space to show Mephiles is fighting moves. "Also, you're not allowed to use chaos energy whatsoever, this is simple close combat and nothing else." Mephiles said and held out his hand. Shadow got the point and gave Mephiles the emerald.

He then performed his attacks with his arms and legs while Mephiles observed them. Shadow stopped and sighed. "I swear I can do better…" Shadow said as he noticed that Mephiles looked unimpressed.

"I know you can do better… I just need to help you."

**Lucy Labrador**


	5. The Last Resort

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 5: The Last Resort**

**My exams are over! Yes! So now I can concentrate on this instead of revision. The sad thing is I'm going on holiday next week and I can't bring my net book with me. (Last time it got smashed and I'm not taking any chances.) I should get this story done by Tuesday because on Wednesday, I'm leaving. **

**Warning: ****This chapter contains more blood and gore!**

Mephiles was standing in front of Shadow, who was looking confident and strong, standing tall and proud. "You're ready." Mephiles said to him. "My soldier." he added. Shadow didn't react, he looked at Mephiles emotionlessly. "I think that you should rest… we shall go through with my plan once you have." Mephiles said and pointed to the door. "I'm very proud of you, Shadow. You've gone from a cowering wreck to an unbreakable soldier." he said as Shadow left the room.

It had been several weeks since Shadow had began his training but now it was complete and he was the ultimate life form that he was before. Once Shadow was in his room and out of Mephiles' site, he let himself go and took off the unbreakable solider act. He went from standing tall to slumping over in exhaustion, he shut his bedroom door and walked over to the bed.

"I'm sorry for what I'm going to do Maria but I made a deal with him. I signed a contract with a demon, I'm not going to get out of it." Shadow said, feeling ashamed. "Nevertheless he was partly right about the humans. They're destroying the planet… if I don't destroy them all quickly, they'll only destroy themselves slowly and painfully." he sighed and climbed into bed, now looking up. "I really do hope that you understand…" he said to her, as though she was somewhere, listening, and fell silent apart from slow breathing.

Once Shadow woke up again, he groaned and got up, knowing what he would have to do. He went to the room that Mephiles was in, the only room they had been in this whole time apart from the bathroom and bedroom. "The time has come. I assume you're ready to do this." Mephiles said to Shadow.

There was a pause as Shadow rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "What's the matter, you're not having second thoughts are you!" Mephiles snapped and stomped over to Shadow.

Shadow couldn't hold in his fear, he couldn't keep up the unemotional act. "It's like you've completely changed over night! What happened to you!" Mephiles shouted in Shadow's face as he grabbed the poor hedgehog by the shoulders and shook him.

"I haven't changed my mind Mephiles! I'll still do as you asked, I'm just not as enthusiastic as you thought I was." Shadow yelled out as he was being shook.

Mephiles stopped and pushed Shadow harshly, giving him a furious look. Shadow's heart was beating quickly and hard, it felt as through his whole body was beating, he knew Mephiles was no pleased. Shadow's eyes widened as Mephiles got his purple chaos spear ready. Shadow jumped back and got his own ready. Mephiles shot his spear that Shadow dodged, Shadow shot his which Mephiles also avoided.

Shadow knew he had to avoid those attacks as all costs, those were the real deal, the ones that had been used on him at the start. "You won't win this… give up now and take your punishment." Mephiles hissed.

Shadow just growled in return and looked even more determined. Mephiles used a spherical attack that was nearly as big as Shadow, it hit the startled hedgehog and threw him against the wall which he his with a loud 'thwack!'.

The beaten hedgehog slid to the floor and looked up to Mephiles with sorry eyes as his master looked down on him with disappointment. "I thought you had changed… obviously not. You shall learn your lesson." Mephiles said and impaled Shadow through the chest with a large, deep purple, chaos spear. It stuck out of his chest as Shadow gasped in sheer agony, unable to move.

Mephiles took a hold of the spear and slowly twisted and moved it in Shadow's chest. Shadow gasped and choked in agony as the blood began to seep out of his chest, off of his body and onto the floor. "You won't be disobeying me again…" Mephiles said ominously, looking down at Shadow with dark eyes.

Shadow was in too much pain to speak, Mephiles could see Shadow's mouth, he was trying to say something. "What's that, hedgehog?" Mephiles asked arrogantly. He could see that Shadow was trying to pronounce the letter 'M'. "Are you trying to say my name?"

Shadow gave a slight nod as he squirmed in pain and took in hard shallow breaths. "Meph-" he began to say but choked out in pain, his words were stuck in his throat. "P-please…" he wheezed.

"I'm not helping you anymore. You're on your own. Come back to me when you see sense." Mephiles said callously and left the room. He left Shadow to suffer in the dim blue light of the Earth.

Shadow couldn't take it anymore, he collapsed in misery, laying in a pool of his own blood. He was waiting to fall unconscious and get away from the pain for a while but it seemed it wasn't coming. His ribs were cracked, his heart was pierced but because of his immortality he was going to survive it. He somewhat wished that he wasn't immortal and that he could die, to relieve himself of the pain.

Tears began to fall from his eyes and he started to tremble. "I know what I have to do." he said to himself inaudibly. He took a hold of the chaos spear in his chest, shut his eyes tight and began to tug at it. He cried out in pain as it slowly slipped out of his body, the blade sliding against his insides only slower. He let go half way through, it was too much to bear. After a half a minute of panting and struggling, Shadow brought himself to pull at it again and this time took it out of his chest.

The action was too painful to even scream this time, Shadow was paralysed in agony, his head starting to feel light. His muscles stiffening. His heart had failed to pump the blood and his body was becoming useless. His eye sight became more and more blurrier and dim until he passed out.

"Sonic… why can't I die?" Shadow groaned when he realised himself to be in the world of emptiness and white.

"You're immortal, that's why." Sonic said smugly. Shadow looked at Sonic infuriately.

"Yes I know that but, why me? Why do I only suffer?" Shadow asked, getting tears in his eyes. "Life isn't worth living at all… I wish I could die so I can join you and Maria." Shadow said through his tears.

Sonic's grin was wiped off his face. It's rare that Shadow would cry like this, this wasn't a cry of physical pain, this was a cry of emotional pain, and the sadness could be seen in Shadow's eyes which sparkled because of the tears.

Sonic couldn't stand to see Shadow in so much pain, he wrapped his arms around him and embraced him tightly. "No Sonic, I'm fine." Shadow growled, but his words were muffled as he had buried his face in Sonic's shoulder.

"You're not fine." Sonic said softly. "Don't mess up again Shadow… it may be wrong but I think it's the only way. You need to do as he says." Sonic said strongly.

"I thought you'd disapprove of this Sonic." Shadow said in astonishment as he pulled himself off of Sonic's shoulder.

"I usually would but you're suffering too badly… and those humans deserve it. I've thought about destroying a few of them myself, but I could never bring myself to do it." Sonic said shamefully. "They've caused us to suffer… and they're making the rest of our kind suffer. They're responsible for the death of Tails, they need to be stopped."

Shadow looked away from his companion. "I didn't realise you felt that way…" Shadow said with his back turned to Sonic. "Well, it's not surprising that you do but it didn't think that you would admit it." he said, looking down at his feet.

"Yeah well, none of that matters now. I'm dead, I can think and say what I want, but none of it will make a difference." Sonic said seriously.

"But, do you honestly want me to destroy them?" Shadow asked.

"Whatever gets you out of this. If you can find a way out of that torture without hurting anyone then I advise that you do so but if you can't then it's the only way and you must do it." Sonic said shamefully. "I can't believe I'm saying this…" he said looking down in dishonour.

"It's okay Sonic. If I can find a way to get out of hurting anyone I can… but it looks like I'll result to the last resort eventually." Shadow said sadly. Sonic looked at Shadow nervously. "Oh Chaos… I'm waking up- Sonic help me!" Shadow said and held the hedgehog tight but it was no use, he woke up anyway.

Shadow yelled out in fear when he saw Mephiles looking over him as soon as he woke up. "Don't hurt me again, I've learnt my lesson! I'll do everything you say!" Shadow cowered.

"I don't think so. You said that the first time, perhaps I should continue with your living hell." Mephiles said sinisterly. Shadow got up to run but Mephiles pierced a Chaos Spear through Shadow's leg lower leg.

It went through the bone and the flesh, making Shadow collapse onto the floor, it had nearly cut his lower leg off. Mephiles took a few steps to get to Shadow, looking over him ominously. He bent down and grabbed Shadow by the neck and picked him up, holding his hand above his head so that Shadow was high enough to be looking down on Mephiles. "This is for your own good…" Mephiles hissed, closing his hand more and tightening it around Shadows' neck.

Shadow knew struggling was futile but his body automatically tried to get itself out of Mephiles' grasp to get air. "How is this for my own good?" Shadow managed to get out while he was being suffocated.

"You'll learn your lesson and obey me… no lies this time, no changing your mind later to say you don't want to do it." Mephiles hissed in Shadow's face and dropped him on the floor, pulled the spear out of Shadow's leg and left the room again.

"Sonic… I'm going to have to do as he says… once I'm healed, the human race is getting destroyed." Shadow said while he sobbed. "I'm sorry…"

**Lucy Labrador**


	6. Going In Alone

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 6: Going In Alone**

Shadow was standing at the window of Space Colony. It had only been a few days but he had healed already. His heart was beating quickly and he felt as though he could faint, he was so nervous. He knew was only a matter of time before Mephiles came into the room and announced that it was time to go and invade the Earth.

He could always refuse to do so but that would mean another punishment and he couldn't take another of those. He had already weighed up his pros and cons many times and it always seemed as though destroying them all would bring more good than disobeying.

Shadow heard footsteps, they were Mephiles' footsteps but they weren't getting louder as though he was getting closer, the volume stayed the same. Shadow shook his head and wiped his face hard with his hands. It was just his imagination, he was hearing things.

Shadow sighed with relief, Mephiles wasn't coming.

TAP

Shadow jumped as he felt a hand fall onto his shoulder firmly. Shadow turned around to see Mephiles in his crystalline form, floating instead of walking and standing. "It's time." Mephiles said. Shadow nodded silently, with a depressed look on his face. Mephiles knew to ignore Shadow's expression, he knew that if he punished him again they would never get around to the plan.

Mephiles made a giant sphere shaped vortex which engulfed them both and sent them to the planet below. The two of them were now in a city, which was full of humans that were running and rushing about to get their things done. Mephiles scowled as he saw them, Shadow felt hatred build up inside of him.

Mephiles pointed to the south, in the distance was a few tall buildings, sticking out above all of the other sky scrapers. "GUN headquarters." he said as he pointed it out. Shadow looked there and his eyes narrowed, to just see that logo of GUN on the building made his blood boil. "I think that you're more ready than you thought you were Shadow." Mephiles said. He then tapped Shadow's shoulder and pointed to the north, a set of identical buildings were in the north. Shadow's eyes widened slightly in astonishment.

"Now, you must go and invade their base in the south and destroy everything you can while I do that same in the north." Mephiles ordered. Shadow nodded and ran off into the south. No one paid any attention to the two of them because of their busy lives. The two terrorists didn't need to worry about being reported.

The dark hedgehog got to his destination and tilted his head up as much as he could, the building was very large. He hid himself in one of the crevices in the large wall. The building was very large and just using a chaos blast wouldn't be a wide idea, it would cause more destruction than Mephiles wanted for the meantime, he would just have to go inside and destroy the people and machinery in it before he heard more from him.

So, Shadow entered through the main entrance, as a few humans were doing. Suddenly an alarm went off, everyone turned to the door. "A Mobian, grab him!" one of the GUN employees yelled.

Shadow used his chaos spears to impale anyone that got near him. The remainder of the GUN workers stayed back and called for backup from the soldiers, the employees trained for combat.

Shadow took his chance and ran further into the building so he was no longer at the entrance. "I have to get the top floor. That's where the leaders should be." Shadow figured and searched for an elevator.

He found one of them but there were soldiers coming out of it. They didn't hesitate to shoot at Shadow. The hedgehog used his training to dodge every bullet and get to the soldiers and destroy them all in one sweep with a mini chaos blast. He then shoved their dead or unconscious bodies out of the elevator and travelled upwards.

It would only go to level 5 out of 50, these elevators only went up five floors at a time. "Hmph… this is going to take a while." Shadow complained and pressed level 5. Once he got to that level the door opened to revel more soldiers who also didn't hesitate to shoot.

Shadow had less space to dodge the bullets but he was able to jump up against the wall and jump over them all. He then sent several chaos spears to paralyse them all.

Shadow smirked, he had forgotten what this felt like, it felt great. He was powerful again, he could rule anyone that got in his way. This streak of exhilaration had to come to and end though as Shadow felt something pierce his back and front.

He had been shot with a large bullet in the back, it was powerful enough to go right through him. "Damn it…" Shadow hissed. It didn't hurt nearly as much as when Mephiles had got him in the chest so he could continue to run however eventually he wasn't able to move due to blood loss and the failure of his heart.

That's when he saw The Commander of GUN. It wasn't the one he'd met at first of course, it was another one that had taken over since it had been several decades, but Shadow knew it was a Commander of GUN due to the uniform. "Think you could get in here unharmed?" he said sinisterly looking down on him. Shadow gulped as he was picked up by the scruff of his neck and brought back to the elevator.

Shadow was brought back down again, he was hoping that This new Commander would be nicer than the last one he had met and just chuck him out and leave it at that, but he didn't. The Commander took him down to the floor minus 2. "What is this place?" Shadow asked nervously.

"This is where we keep the prisoners." The Commander said and brought him along the dim corridor. Shadow's ears drooped to the sides of his head. The Commander put Shadow down onto the floor so he could stand up. Shadow just collapsed since he was unable to keep himself up. Shadow groaned from the floor. "Just you wait… less than 12 hours and my heart will be working again. Then you'll regret doing this to me." Shadow threatened, hissing in pain.

The Commander kicked Shadow and pushed the collapsed hedgehog into a cell. It was empty, dark, made of brick walls and concrete. "We'd better get you into our special chamber in less than 12 hours then." The Commander said sinisterly and walked out of sight by going up the corridor again. Shadow sighed, he was just the same as the last Commander.

"Special chamber? Could it be a torture chamber?" Shadow asked himself and lay on the hard, rough floor of the cell until someone came to take him to this chamber that was mentioned.

He began to tremble in fear when The Commander came back with five soldiers to help him. "Let's bring him to the bottom floor." The Commander said sinisterly. Shadow's eyes widened, this was it. He was unable to escape since he was paralysed and it would take the humans a lot less than 12 hours to bring him to his doom.

They took the elevator to the floor Minus 5. In this level it was different, it wasn't dingy and dark, it was bright and pure, like a science lab, or a hospital. This made Shadow feel even more nervous, places like this meant there was something sinister behind it for him.

Shadow was carried down the long and wide hallway by two soldiers who was holding him by his arms, holding one arm of Shadow's each. He was then taken into an individual room. Inside it, once the lights were turned on Shadow could see a small table with metal constraints on them, it looked just right for someone of his size. "What are you going to do to me!" Shadow exclaimed.

The terrified hedgehog was strapped onto the table, the solid metal constraints slammed shut on their hinges. They were just bit enough to fit Shadow's small wrists in them, this was defiantly made for people like him, Mobians.

Once Shadow's wrists and ankles were secured, several needles which were on the end of tubes, were stuck into him. These tubes were attached to a machine. "What is this!" Shadow exclaimed, trying to get out of the constraints.

"It's a Chaos Energy extraction machine. It will slowly suck the energy out of you so we can use it. All Mobians hold a certain amount of chaos energy. Most of them are sucked dry after two minutes of extraction, but you are different. We know that you hold a lot of energy, you will make us very powerful and you will be very dead." he joked.

Shadow's eyes widened, he knew he wouldn't die, he was immortal, getting all chaos energy removed from his body would only send him into a coma, not kill him. What he knew that would happen, is that it would definitely hurt. Shadow took a deep breath as The Commander turned to the machine to turn it on. "Why do I have to do this?" Shadow said, under his breath, then he heard the click of the button, the machine was activated. Once this happened, as Shadow could feel was a world of pain.

**Two updates in one day… don't count on a third ;)**

**Lucy Labrador**


	7. A Demon's Devotion

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 7: A Demon's Devotion**

**There was a little problem with the last chapter. I didn't make it clear enough that The Commander in the story now, is a new Commander, not the one in the Shadow The Hedgehog game. I've replaced the document with an update that makes is clearer. Just to let you know. **

Shadow cried out at the top of his voice, he'd never felt anything like it. The Machine was sucking the energy out of him very slowly but it was a painful thing to happen to anyone. Chaos energy was Shadow's life force, using it up slowly as he did every day of his life, was normal and not at all painful. Purpose extraction, however, was agonising.

"What's going on with you! You're such a baby, no one has ever screamed like this before." The Commander complained as he covered his ears, Shadow wouldn't stop shouting on in pain.

"He won't be able to explain to you. He's in too much pain." said one of the soldiers. The Commander glared at him then slapped Shadow on the cheek. There was no reaction from the hedgehog, just more anguished cries.

"I think we should turn the power down a little bit." The Commander said. "To stop his annoying screams…" he added and turned one of the dials. The chaos energy was being extracted at the same speed but at a slower rate, less was extracted each second, than before.

Shadow's cries died down, instead he just had a wide eyed look, his teeth were clenched and his hands were tensed in pain, his breaths were ragged and shallow. He blinked hard every so often but the majority of the time his eyes were wide open, true pain in his expression. "He won't be screaming now-"

"**MEPHILES**!" Shadow screamed out at the top of his voice, interrupting The Commander.

"Who?" The Commander said, he had never heard of anyone called Mephiles before. Shadow called the name again, just as loud. "Are you calling for help from someone?" The Commander asked threateningly. Shadow ignored what The Commander said and called again, this time slightly louder. "Right, that's it!" The Commander snapped and went to cover Shadow's mouth.

Just as he was about to do so, the door to the room swung open. The Commander turned to the door to who had stormed in and why they were in such a hurry. It was another GUN soldier. "Commander! Our other headquarters in the south. It's been attacked… one of the skyscrapers have completely collapsed, the other two are going down along with them!" he yelled in shock and urgency.

"WHAT! Is this something to do with you!" The Commander said to Shadow, turning to him furiously. Shadow gave a weak smile which is all he could do through his pain, he then shouted again.

"**MEPHILES!**" Shadow yelled and began to cough and groan, he was feeling light headed.

Then there was a loud crash and a rumble, The Commander and others in the room looked anxious, they were all now looking to the door. There were more crashes, booms and rumbles, each time getting louder and closer. Shadow was paying no attention to it since he was in so much pain and oblivious to his surroundings.

There was then an explosion right outside of the door, they could see bursts of purple then a furious figure blasted through the door. It was Mephiles who began to boil inside when he saw the state that Shadow was in.

"What is this?" Mephiles asked in fury, his voice loud a bold. "We're extracting chaos energy from your little friend here… and you're next." The Commander said sinisterly and confidently. Mephiles sent a chaos spear at the machine and it broke in half with once quick slice.

Shadow let out a huge gasp as though he was coming up from water, he was still stuck to the table though. Shadow's head looked up to see Mephiles then collapsed back into the table in pure exhaustion with a thump, his eyes became dim.

Mephiles tried to get to Shadow but his way was blocked by the GUN soldiers and The Commander. "Destroy him!" The Commander ordered, once he saw that Mephiles was a threat.

Mephiles was in his crystalline form so it didn't harm him a lot, then he sent out a shockwave that sent the bullets flying back in the opposite direction. All of the soldiers were hit. But not The Commander he was standing behind a soldier. "You coward!" Mephiles said angrily, pointing to The Commander.

He then saw Shadow, squirming and choking in pain, a bullet as hit his side because of the ricochet of bullets. In pure rage, Mephiles sent a chaos spear through The Commander's heart and ended it quickly. He then ran to Shadow and broke the metal restraints on the table and broke Shadow free. He then picked the tormented hedgehog up, holding Shadow's limp body in his arms.

The anguished hedgehog looked up at Mephiles, utter pain in his eyes, tears falling from them. "Mephiles…" Shadow choked. "I'm sorry I failed you… please don't punished me." he rasped.

"No, I won't punish you. You tried hard, you did well." Mephiles lied about his success. "Come on, let's go." Mephiles said. He set off a large chaos blast and escaped immediately with chaos control.

The two of them were outside of the city, Mephiles saw the building they had just been in, fall like a stack of cans, taking nearby sky scrapers down with it. "You did it Shadow." Mephiles sighed sadly and teleported back to Space Colony ARK.

Mephiles laid Shadow's limp body on the cold floor. Shadow looked up at Mephiles, no emotion on his face, he was just baring the pain. "They nearly drained you of your life force Shadow, you could have died." Mephiles said with concern.

"No, I wouldn't have… I'm immortal." Shadow said softly and weakly.

"But… you never know, you've never been drained of that much energy before… you saying that you'll just go into a coma, it's just a hypothesis, you don't know if it's true." Mephiles snapped.

"What do you care? Really… you hate me. You would have enjoyed to see me die." Shadow said hatefully.

"No Shadow, you're wrong, all wrong." Mephiles said angrily.

"Oh, you would have been angry because you will have lost your best and only solider." Shadow spat.

"That's not it!" Mephiles argued.

"All of those weeks of work will have been gone down the drain, it all would have come to nothing?" Shadow guessed, again, hatred and anger in his voice.

"You don't get it!" Mephiles snapped, shouting at Shadow. "I've started to feel compassion for you Shadow. No longer do I envy you, or hate you… I pity you. You've suffered all of your life and just when you get the chance to take revenge, you only end up suffering more." Mephiles said sadly.

Shadow was taken aback by this. "A demon with empathy? Impossible." Shadow said breathlessly.

"No, not impossible. I've watched you grow and change as trained you. It was as if I was raising you from childhood to adulthood." Mephiles explained seriously.

Shadow was silent, he didn't know what to say to this, after how Mephiles had treated him, why would he become concerned about him all of a sudden? "Lies." Shadow said.

"What!"

"You're lying!" Shadow growled.

"If I were lying I would have left you in that building to die… no, you would have just suffered and unbearable amount a pain again as you were crushed under the weight of the whole building." Mephiles yelled.

"You just brought me back here to torment me. Why else would you have tortured me before!" Shadow argued back.

"That was then… I've changed now. I've grown to feel compassion, I didn't always feel it." Mephiles explained irritably.

"This is wrong. I should never have made a deal with a demon, now you're emotionally attached. I'm never going to get away from you." Shadow complained.

"And why would you want to get away from me after everything I've done! I saved you!" Mephiles said. "I don't care what you say! It's not because you're valuable to me, it's not because all of my work will have been wasted, it's because I feel for you, in the same way you would feel for a companion." Mephiles said.

"Just leave it Mephiles… I'm in so much pain right now… I'd rather not talk." Shadow said, his body was now spread out, flat on the floor, he was breathing slowly and quietly.

"I'm sorry, Shadow." Mephiles said and left the room, leaving Shadow to recover from his new injuries.

The confused and angered hedgehog began to think to himself. Was Mephiles really telling the truth, he could have been since he was so gentle to Shadow and didn't punish him for failing. Deep down Shadow had a strong feeling that it was true but was very reluctant to believe it or to trust Mephiles. The cruel demon could always change his mind later and begin to torment him again. What was worse was that Mephiles had claimed to like him now and denying might have made Mephiles hate him again. Shadow could have missed a perfect opportunity.

**OMG! My last chance to finish this is tomorrow before I go on holiday! I completely miscalculated the time I have left! I need to finish this soon or there won't be an update for a whole week!**

**Lucy Labrador**


	8. Freedom Finally

**Affliction and Anguish**

**Chapter 8: Freedom… Finally**

Shadow got up from the floor. After sever hours of recovering which included the occasionally crying out in pain when he moved too much. Now that his wounds were healed enough he made his way to the shower, it was time to clean all of the blood off.

Shadow shivered and jumped out of the shower several times because of the very low temperature of the water, but eventually his wounds were cleaned out. When he got out and dried himself he found Mephiles at the door. Shadow stayed silent and looked down the to floor to avoid eyes contact with him.

"So, how well are your wounds healing?" Mephiles asked.

"They're doing well, they still hurt a lot but not so much to paralyse me anymore." Shadow said, not looking up at Mephiles. Noticing Shadow's avoidance in eye contact, Mephiles took a hold of Shadow's chin and lifted his face up so he could look at Shadow's face, thus making eye contact.

"I'm proud of you… I know you find this strange… so I understand if you don't accept my care." Mephiles said sadly.

Shadow began to feel ashamed. "Mephiles, I'm sorry. Maybe I was wrong and I should trust you now." Shadow said, feeling regret for his actions. There was a pause of silence.

"You should rest now. While you're doing that, I'll be down there finishing those humans off." Mephiles said, he put his clawed hand on Shadow's shoulder softly and made his way down the corridor. Shadow did the same, walking the opposite way to his room down the dark dingy passageway which led to his room.

Now in his bed with his wounds feeling less painful, Shadow could rest easy. He felt very low, however. He wasn't even able to do any adequate amount of damage, in fact, he had made things harder because Mephiles had to rescue him. Shadow felt useless, all of that training had come to nothing. "How? I was able to destroy humans so easily, before." Shadow said to himself sadly. "Maybe I'm not as ageless as I thought, maybe I am ageing in some ways… my skills have depleted." he sighed.

Then something popped into his mind. "Then again, the humans I fought before had the technology and training that I was able to combat, maybe they're becoming stronger due to better technology and training. Maybe my skills haven't become lesser." Shadow said on a high point.

That's what led to his sadness again, as he realised a further point in his solo discussion. "That was also means that myself as a creation of the human race… has become obsolete." he said to himself, sounding disappointed. He hung his head in shame, he was no longer The Ultimate Life Form that could do almost anything, anymore. He had become outdated.

"I'm no match for a machine any more." Shadow sighed and fell silent.

"Shadow, what's wrong?" Shadow could hear Sonic's voice, he was once again in the world of emptiness.

"I've become obsolete, Sonic. I used to be feared by humans and untouchable, now I'm useless." Shadow sighed.

"That's not true. You _are_ untouchable Shadow. You were only shot because you let your guard down, you became arrogant and let it happen." Sonic explained.

"It's strange to hear those words to come from the likes of you Sonic." Shadow scoffed.

"Yeah… I know." Sonic said nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Nevertheless, you are right. I just need more practice… but not now, Mephiles is finishing them all off alone." Shadow said gratefully.

"I'm glad that you have a friend now Shadow. You're not so lonely anymore." Sonic gave a smile.

"Aren't you jealous or concerned in any way?" Shadow asked. "I've befriended a demon." he added.

"No, I think what Mephiles is saying is sincere." Sonic said with a grin. "And it's best of you're friends with the guy than enemies. I'm glad that you won't suffer any more."

"Perhaps there's a better life for me after all. Thank You Sonic." Shadow said to him sincerely.

"You're welcome budd-"

Sonic's words were cut off as he jolted upright in his bed, he had been woken up. "Wh-what's going on, Mephiles, is that you?" Shadow asked, not able to see yet since his eyes hadn't adapted to the darkness.

All of a sudden he could feel something that felt like tough, dry leathery fingers, grasp his body and hold him tightly. Shadow couldn't even cry out in pain, he was in too much shock. Whoever was doing this had big hands, and a lack of fingers. "I've finally found you… son…" Shadow could hear a demonic, echoing voice say slowly and sinisterly.

Shadow tensed up, realising who it was but by the time he had done this, it was too late. He had been teleported away with chaos control, he had been kidnapped by Black Doom.

Shadow was now in a place with light, so he could see for sure if this was Black Doom or not, the clues made it obvious though, being called 'son' the large hand with two fingers, the voice. Shadow looked up from the floor he was sitting on, to see Black Doom floating in front of him. The terrified hedgehog tensed up and began to tremble. "What do you want from me! How are you even alive!" Shadow exclaimed with his eyes tight shut, trying to block out the horrible event.

"I want you to work for me from now on. You are my son, not Mephiles' so you belong to me." Black Doom said seriously.

"I belong to no one!" Shadow yelled up to him.

"Then, why have you being acting as though Mephiles is your master. You belong to him Shadow, but not for much longer." Black Doom said sinisterly.

"I refuse to join you in anything!" Shadow said stubbornly.

"Are you sure about that?" Black Doom asked confidently, he held out his hand, this made Shadow immediately cower, his ears drooped to the sides of his head and he began to shake even more. "Well?"

"**Mephiles!**" Shadow cried out at the top of his voice.

"Do you think he will be able to hear you! Look around you Shadow, are you in Space Colony ARK any more? Are you on Earth!" Black Doom said angrily. Shadow looked around him and all he could see were shades of red, black and a bit of purple, the floor was black, the walls were black. The scenery was red and purple, and the rivers were a red, black and purple goo.

"Damn it." Shadow said in a timid voice.

"I've had word that you have lately experienced Chaos Energy extraction." Black Doom said wisely. Shadow nodded slowly. "How did it feel?"

"It was the most…" Shadow started and gave a hard gulp. "… painful… agonising… excruciating thing ever done to me." he said slowly, as thought he was reliving it in his mind.

"Did it feel like this?" he asked Shadow smugly as he still held his hand out, the same way he would have done when he was using mind control on him.

Shadow's teeth clenched and his eyes opened wide, he took a deep breath through his teeth, his muscles tensed, his hands and feet scraped along the floor and he let out a shrill cry of pain. "Willing to work for me now?" Black Doom said smugly. Shadow didn't answer, he just gave another agonised cry which could possibly be heard for miles.

Sadly, Shadow was more than just miles away from Mephiles. "Well, I shall just keep doing this until I get a yes out of you." Black Doom threatened. Shadow continued to shriek in agony.

Shadow refused to give in, there was no need to. Mephiles would save him. Mephiles couldn't hear Shadow since he was probably not even in the same galaxy as him, but as soon as Mephiles returned to the ARK to find him gone, he would come looking for him.

But for now Shadow would have to endure the horrible pain, the excruciating agony. "I would hurry up with your demission if I were you, hedgehog… you're running low on energy already… it's only a matter of time before you run out."

Still no answer from Shadow, he was in too much pain to speak, all he could do was scream or give gags of pain, then came the light-headedness. Shadow's cries died down in volume, he was too weak to scream so loud. "You'd… really… kill… your… own son?" he said each words between sets of deep breaths.

"You tried to kill me." Black Doom pointed out. Shadow was speechless, his eyes began to get dim again. "Time is running out Shadow…" Black Doom teased.

Shadow shook his head firmly. "Mephiles will come… he will save me…" Shadow said to himself under his breath. "Please…"

"I'm giving you one last chance before I end your sorry life." Black Doom threatened.

"N-never…" Shadow said stubbornly and weakly.

"Very well…" Black Doom said sinisterly. "It was nice knowing you, you useless rodent-"

There was a flash and Black Doom's arm was sliced off by a dagger of deep purple. Shadow's pain ceased, and he fell limp onto the floor completely. Mephiles ran over to Shadow and picked him up, he then looked to Black Doom in hatred.

"See… I knew he would come…" Shadow choked. "Even if he was… too late." he sighed.

"Too late?" Mephiles asked worriedly. Shadow gave a groan, he was going pale and his eyes lids falling. Shadow could feel a strong pain in his chest, tears began to sting in his eyes and roll down his cheeks.

"M-Mephiles… I-I'm sorry." Shadow trembled. "You were right… going into a coma after chaos energy loss is just a stupid theory… I was wrong."

"Shadow!" Mephiles cried out. "No, I'M wrong! You're going to be fine!" Mephiles exclaimed.

"So much for being The Ultimate Life form who's immortal and indestructible." Shadow trembled.

"But you are immortal… please." Mephiles hissed.

"Enough of this, it' pathetic." Black Doom said and raised his hand to send a chaos spear. Mephiles effortlessness pointed his hand backwards and sent a chaos spear of his own which hit Black Doom right in the chest. The alien overlord plummeted to the floor.

"Mephiles… will I finally be free?" Shadow rasped.

"Yes Shadow… you will be free, you'll join your friends… and you'll be happy." Mephiles struggled to say.

Shadow took a deep breath while he looked Mephiles in the eyes, then fell silent and all movement in his tormented body ceased, all thoughts in his tortured mind stopped and no longer continued to subsist.

"Shadow… I wish I treated you better. I'm sorry." Mephiles sighed, dropped Shadow and turned away immediately. He then sent many more chaos spears to Black Doom in anger and fury, just to make sure the malevolent creature was dead.

The heartbroken demon took hold of Shadow's body, looking at his face, he looked at peace. Finally. Mephiles teleported the two of them to the Space Colony ARK and lay Shadow down on the floor of the observation room, the light of Earth shining over Shadow's face. Mephiles put Shadow in a straight position, laying the poor hedgehog's hands on chest so that he was in a respectable position.

"Shadow… I had so much I could have said to you but I never got the chance… I'm sorry." Mephiles said while looking over his body. He bent down to smooth Shadow's fur, brushing his hand slowly across Shadow's arm.

He then turned away in a hurry again and performed Chaos Control, he was leaving the ARK for good, but he had left something behind. On Shadow's chest, was a speck of water, a tear, which belonged to,

**Mephiles**

**Thanks for reading, please leave a review if you haven't already. **

**Lucy Labrador**


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